Cama gives BWB 40% rating
The Consumers Association of Malawi (Cama) has given Blantyre Water Board (BWB) 40 percent rating for improving its service delivery during the two-week period the consumer rights body gave the utility provider.
Speaking in an interview after a news conference Cama co-hosted with BWB at BWB head office in Blantyre yesterday, Cama executive director John Kapito said there is need for the board to work hard to get the remaining 60 percent in the next two weeks.
Said Kapito: “During the assessment which Cama did together with the media monitoring committee, it has been agreed that there is remarkable progress in the way Blantyre Water Board is distributing water through bowsers to locations as some residents are getting the water as per published schedule.
“The board should improve in other locations such as Bangwe and Chigumula where people are not happy because ever since the supplying of water through bowsers started, the bowser has only been there for once.
“There is also a need for the board to broadcast the schedule on local radios as per our agreement rather that just in the print media and we will be monitoring for the next two weeks.”
He said another area the board should work on is to ensure that there is the much needed security when supplying water through the bowsers as some residents were complaining that police officers and their families monopolise the supply by drawing the water first and letting the other people draw later.
In his remarks, BWB acting chief executive Henry Bakuwa said the board has done its best in the period given by Cama and the scaling up of water supply through additional water bowsers and publishing the supply schedule in the print media has enabled alleviate problems that were there.
He said the board believes there is always room for improvement and what has happened in the two weeks has given them an insight on which areas they need to improve.
Said Bakuwa: “At first, the board had only five bowsers, but after agreeing to intensify water supply capacity, we took an in initiative to seek assistance from the Malawi Defence Force and currently we have 13 large bowsers with a capacity of not less than 10 000 cubic litres and 10 mobile water tanks with a capacity of 1 000 litres each.”
He said the board is doing all it can to make sure the rehabilitation of Chileka pumping station comes to an end soon and that customers should expect normal supply of tap water end February next year or within the first two weeks of March.
Meanwhile, heavy rains that fell on Monday morning washed away BWB main water supply pipes across Nasolo River.
The pipes supply water to areas in Soche Zone which includes Manyowe, Sunnyside, CI, new and old Naperi, Zingwangwa, Ginnery Corner, Baluti and Stella Maris, among others.
BWB distribution manager Bright Mziliwanda said residents from affected areas should expect normal supply of water by today (Wednesday) 5pm as the board is doing its best to fix the pipelines.
